Accidental sour considerations

[Ungoliant]

Okay folks, the how doesn't really matter because it's too late at this point, but I brewed a black ale, OG 1.1, finished at 1.03 on S05. Transferred to secondary, dry hopped it, boiled some Hungarian oak cubes, threw them and some Russell's reserve in there, bumped it down to 55* F. Went out of town for a few weeks, came back and this is how she looks now (see below). I'm gonna let it ride because it doesn't taste too terrible soured so far.

Considering I'm a Brewer on a budget:
1) How can I make sure my equipment (bottling bucket, big mouth bubbler, tubing, and wine thief) is salvageable?

2) How long should I expect the souring to go till it's good and finished before I can package (bottles)?

3) Will I need to add fresh yeast at bottling time?

4) Any general advice on how to handle it?

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464017481.195823.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464017493.961856.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1464017509.111292.jpg

 

[Aristotelian]

Looks similar to pictures I have seen of brett pellicles. It could go on for a matter of months. Definitely take samples and don't bottle until it's stable.

Most recommend using separate bottling equipment. Then the only thing to worry about would be your fermenter. Hit it with star san and then bleach and hopefully that takes care of it.

 

[m00ps]

I made a thread on an accidental sour that I managed to turn around. If you can spare the fermentor for a few months i'd recommend pitching a bunch fo bottle dregs in there to help things out
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=554778

 

[sweetcell]

yup, give whatever is in there a helping hand by pitching some dregs or some commercial brett. you have no idea what's in there - could be good, could be bad. some brett brett might help clean things up (if there is anything to clean).

Considering I'm a Brewer on a budget:
1) How can I make sure my equipment (bottling bucket, big mouth bubbler, tubing, and wine thief) is salvageable?

there is some disagreement on this. most people are of the opinion that there is no way to properly sanitize soft materials like plastic, vinyl, etc. if you believe that camp (and i'm in it) everything that you list above is now contaminated. use it with sour only from now on.

others contend that they have had success sanitizing plastic with the usual regime of PBW + star san. only one way to find out: sanitize the crap out of your equipment a use it on a clean beer. see if any sourness or funkiness develops. for me it's not worth the risk, YMMV.

2) How long should I expect the souring to go till it's good and finished before I can package (bottles)?

the problem here is that we have no idea what's in there - brett? pedio? lacto? other? some combo of the above? without knowing, i'd say that 9 months is the minimum to be safe.

3) Will I need to add fresh yeast at bottling time?

if you add brett (and are thus certain that there is brett in there ) you don't have to. it'll carb faster with fresh yeast but brett will do the job in about twice the time. if you decide to let this ride without adding anything, then adding some yeast at bottling is probably a good idea.

 

[Ungoliant]

I bumped the temp back up to 65 to get it back to a more normal ferm temp to speed up the process, but I don't think I'm going to invest in the bottle dregs for this one; I'll just let it finish out because I'm not really in a hurry on this one.

I may add some oak cubes from a small batch of old ale I used Wicked Weed's amorous to sour, just to get some more bugs in it.

 

[m00ps]

You dont need to "invest" in bottle dregs. Pretty much any commercial sour (other than gose and berliner weiss) is going to be naturally carbonated. Get whatever you like best and you still get to drink the beer then add the dregs to the fermentor. Easy peasy

 

[troglodytes]

Agreed, sounds like you were just give a perfect excuse to go pick up a bottle of Boulevard Brett Saison.

 

[douglasbarbin]

Just hope that it isn't acetobacter.

 

[Agate]

Acetobacter makes a thick rubbery mass at the top and requires oxygen to make acetic acid. That doesn't look like an aceto mother. Either way, keep oxygen exposure to a minimum as wild yeasts and some bacteria can also make acetic acid, not just acetobacter.

 

[Ungoliant]

So I warmed it up from 55 to 67, and it started fermenting again. Definitely has a bit of a Brett funk to the nose.

It tastes pretty good, too, so now I've got some soured oak cubes to use later on.

 

[jfolks]

Any idea what the gravity is at this point? (will be interesting to see how much the whatever has fermented it down)

 

[Ungoliant]

Well the OG was 1.1 and finished at 1.030 with S-05, so I'm hoping it will get down to the 1.010-1.020 range. I'm going to wait until it stops fermenting to get another reading